Who Is Visiting Disney's Theme Parks in 2023?

January 14, 2023, 3:11 PM · The Walt Disney Company is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, with Disneyland starting the party on January 27. That's the day that one new dark ride and two new nighttime spectaculars will debut at the California theme parks, kicking off the Disney100 celebration.

The party continues at Walt Disney World after its 50th anniversary celebration ends on March 31, with a new roller coaster opening and two of its nighttime spectaculars returning. Hong Kong Disneyland is getting a new Frozen land this year, too, and Disney Parks's chairman has announced several fan-friendly changes the company is making to its parks in Orlando and Anaheim.

So does all this - plus Disney's continuing line-ups of attractions - have you planning a Disney trip in 2023?

Disney's parks are the most-attended in the world, with Disney claiming eight of the top 10 spots worldwide in the most recent most-visited theme parks list. So Disney would be likely to get its share of visitors even if it were not offering anything new or different this year. But, as we noted above, they are, as well as bringing back a full line-up of food festivals and other events throughout the year.

We'd like to know about your Disney plans for 2023. Which Disney Resort around the world will you be visiting this year? Are you planning to visit multiple resorts? Or are you planning on sitting Disney out in 2023?

Please tell us in the comments, if you wish, about why you did - or didn't - make Disney plans this year.

To help you with your trip planning, we have just updated our reader rankings for the Walt Disney World and Disneyland theme parks, which you can see here:

For more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekly newsletter.

And to help support Theme Park Insider while saving money on discounted theme park tickets, please follow the ticket icon links our Theme Park listings page.

Replies (18)

January 14, 2023 at 7:39 PM

Saving for the big trip in 2025.

January 14, 2023 at 10:17 PM

I'm currently saving for a big Universal Orlando trip in 2025, once Epic Universe opens. I went to Walt Disney World in June of last year, and while still fun, I'm not sure if it justified the price tag or hassle. Along with that, I mainly go for new attractions, and (as far as we know right now), there isn't much notable being built at WDW between now and 2025.

January 14, 2023 at 10:37 PM

If current plans hold, I'll be visiting Walt Disney World again in 2023 to ride Guardians of the Galaxy and Tron Lightcycle, since neither was ready for my last trip in 2021. However, unless Disney has something big on the horizon that they're keeping secret, this is very likely to be my last visit to Walt Disney World for a long time. While I do like DAK quite a bit, I'd pick either Universal or SeaWorld park over it, and the other WDW parks are good but not great in my opinion. With Universal requiring more time once Epic Universe opens and a Disney experience that is declining in quality while raising in price, it's not going to be too hard to omit WDW from future Florida trips.

As I live local to it, I'm also sure I'll be visiting Disneyland at some point in 2023 as I tend to visit once or twice a year. However, much like WDW, if I were to move outside of SoCal I'm not sure how much drive I'd have to return. While I still enjoy the place, I've visited so many times that it's starting to feel old and tired, and especially after visiting a bunch of European parks this year, I'm far more interested in checking out new places that have a different kind of magic.

January 15, 2023 at 12:32 AM

Nope.

January 15, 2023 at 12:45 AM

Not planning a single Disney visit because there’s no point. The price are outrageous. The hotels are nowhere near worth what they are charging. They nickel and dime you at every turn. You can’t easily park hop. Food quality has gone way downhill. The parks and hotels are more dirty and poorly maintained than I’ve ever seen them in 35 years of visiting WDW. The monorails are gross. You get almost no value for your dollar. Disney Genie is a total scam and a pain in the a$$ to boot. The classic rides are poorly maintained and showing their age and the new ones are mostly lame and uninspired. EPCOT is a total shell of its former greatness and is full of drunks. AK and DHS are STILL only half day parks. Oh, and have I mentioned the prices are outrageous?

I have the money to go to WDW if I wanted to, but I have no desire to share it with a company that has so clearly been putting profits over guest experience for some time now.

For the price of a single DAY at Disney, we got 4 season passes to Cedar Point. The magic and memories we make will be just as real as any Disney visit and I won’t leave the park feeling like I’ve been squeezed for every penny. And if we feel like visiting parks like Kennywood, Kings Island, and Holiday World, all parks within a days drive and that value their guests, we’ll still come out way ahead financially.

January 15, 2023 at 3:17 AM

Current plan is Disney World in May/June and Disneyland in December. The latter is definitely happening, we'll see if the former comes to pass.

January 15, 2023 at 3:54 AM

Price is the big one, they just aren't worth the cost.
I have been to most of them, and loved them (I'm far from a Disney hater) but the cost and the ever expanding reliance on mobile phone apps to do anything in the park

January 15, 2023 at 5:02 AM

Through fortune of travel this year I will be attending Tokyo Disneysea (maybe Disneyland as well), a first for me. I will also attend Hong Kong Disneyland in September, hopefully the new Frozen land will be open by then!

Will also be in Paris in September - may try to take a day to go to Disneyland Paris. It would be a first for me also, although will depend on my wife's preferences.

I could go to Anaheim too in a few weeks, but that would involve changing some travel plans and I was there last March so it doesn't seem worth it.

I'm very lucky that this year will be a great year of travel for me.

January 15, 2023 at 5:32 AM

Can’t wait for the polls for all the other THEME parks !

January 15, 2023 at 6:36 AM

Next time I go to a Disney Park, it’s likely going to be Disneyland, where I’ve only been 3 times. But I’m in no hurry to get back there.

WDW’s 50th Anniversary Celebration was largely disappointing, so I certainly won’t be chasing one of those again…

January 15, 2023 at 11:30 AM

I’ll be at Walt Disney World in March and Tokyo Disneyland in October — really looking forward to both trips. It’s my first time to Tokyo and I haven’t taken a full Orlando trip since 2017.

January 15, 2023 at 1:02 PM

We usually go to Disneyland at least twice a year, but I imagine this year we'll go just once, if at all. I'm waiting to see if Iger does something about Genie+, or brings back the full magic morning hour, or announces a change to mobile dining before I book.

Honestly, last time we were there I spent far too much time complaining about those things (and others), you shouldn't be aggravated and consternated when you're paying literally thousands of dollars a day to be there. Especially when they are manufactured problems that didn't previously exist and don't have to exist, but for Disney's greed and poor management.

This activist shareholder that's trying to get on Disney's board, did you see his goals? The number one thing he wants is the return of the shareholder dividend. Personally, I think Disney should declare it's no longer going play by the usual rules, putting shareholder returns first. The first priory should be preserving the brand and honoring the fans, and if you want to own a piece of Disney, you have to be prepared to put customer experience over shareholder profits.

January 15, 2023 at 1:58 PM

We already have travel plans for this year, but we are discussing hitting either Universal Orlando or WDW in 2024. We visited UO the year before the Wizarding World opened and we were able to take advantage of the fantastic deals available to entice folks who were thinking about waiting for the big opening. I am hoping we will see aggressive pricing for One BEU (Before Epic Universe).

January 15, 2023 at 3:56 PM

My sister planning a trip in March, would like to go with, not sure on fiances/scheduling but been so long it's tempting.

January 16, 2023 at 5:31 AM

Despite having trips to Orlando booked in late Feb and Sept- plus a possible third trip in early Dec - we have no plans to visit WDW apart from possibly a quick visit to Disney Springs for lunch at The Boathouse.

We used to spend at least a few days there almost every trip up until Sept 2019, doing split stays with Universal. Whilst we can still afford to visit, the value just isn’t there - prices have massively increased and the quality of the product has significantly decreased. Universal Orlando will continue to get our business instead, and we’re really looking forward to the ten nights we have booked at Royal Pacific at the end of next month.

We have to visit HK for other reasons in May so we might spend a few hours at HK Disneyland one day. We’re considering a trip to Japan next year and if that goes ahead we’ll absolutely include a few days at the Tokyo parks. I’ve been wanting to visit them again for years.

January 16, 2023 at 10:35 AM

We spent a total of 4 days in WDW parks in 2022, and probably won't do another Orlando trip until 2025 when Epic Universe opens. It's possible we may go to the California parks before then, and a very outside shot that we visit one of the foreign parks over the next few years.

There just aren't many compelling reasons right now for us to visit because of the decreasing value of a Disney vacation even with the slight policy "tweaks" noted by D'Amaro last week.

January 17, 2023 at 6:09 AM

I'd visit Tokyo Disneyland Resort but the rest of the bunch is a pale, dirty version of the world class destinations they once where and not worth my time nor money.
In 2026 I'll be a month in Universal Studios Orlando to visit their resorts (it has been a while) and Sea World/Bush Gardens.

January 17, 2023 at 5:04 PM

No plans to visit Disney ever again. We've always loved Universal parks more and with Epic Universe coming there's no need for Disney for us.

The only Disney parks I would go to at this point are the Tokyo, Shanghai, and Paris ones but the last time we were in those cities there's simply so much to do and visit we didn't feel the need to go to the park.

This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

Vacation deals

Park tickets

Subscribe by email

Subscribe by RSS

New attraction reviews

News archive